Before the 1972 TV show In Search of Dracula, few people outside of Romania had heard of Vlad the Impaler. Even now, many think of the 15th century ruler as the inspiration for the Dracula character. He wasn’t a vampire, but he was a horror.

When political envoys refused to remove their customary skullcaps in Vlad’s presence, he said “In all fairness, I want to strengthen and recognize your customs” and had the hats nailed to their heads. The forests of Transylvania were growing thick with the impaled, and the unnerved turks dubbed him "Kazikli Voyvoda", the Impaler Prince.

Curious Expeditions has many more examples of his cruelty and iron hand in the story of the real Vlad Tepes. Link

@ Bobby Fisher, the pyramid you mention was an accepted measure used (among other techniques) by most European armies to discipline their soldiers. Although I guess they rarely did that to more than one or two victims at a time, whereas Vlad made a real spectacle of it. Refer the recently published "Redcoat" (I forget the names of the author and publisher).

I remember this from a documentary about Vlad the Impaler: When he was thrown in prison, Vlad continued to impale lizards and mice that he captured in his cell! He just liked to impale things and watch 'em writhe and die.

there was this horrible pyramid of a spike that he would impale people by.

forcing the spike to enter their body through a private orifice until it reached their brain, at which point they would no longer feel the pain sustained and die immediately.but that time from entry until death... mustve been so unimaginably painful.